9th February, 2008
Finding the "Why" in Your Business
Simon Sinek is a consultant whose goal is to inspire businesses to great things by helping them discover why they do what they do. He says that all businesses know what they do, but few actually know why they do it. Businesses that only know what they do are only able to focus on the what. The unfortunate thing is that, no matter what kind of business you are in, chances are there is someone else out there that does it for the same price, has the same quality, and offers comparable service. Therefore, people do not choose you because of your what, they can only choose you because of your why.
I came across this fascinating interview with Simon. I highly recommend you take some time to watch it.
One of my favorite lines from the interview is, “Success [in your business] doesn’t happen when you find the things that are wrong and try to fix them. Success happens when you find the things that are right and amplify them.”
Popularity: 43% [?]
Posted at 1:41 pm | Comment (0)
5th February, 2008
Younger Optics Releases Image Wrap
Younger Optics announced today the release of the Image progressive in a decentered design specifically for wrap frames. The Image Wrap is available in polycarbonate NuPolar Gray.
“Standard progressive designs often do not offer enough lens material for wrap sunframes. As every laboratory technician knows, when the lens doesn’t “cut out,” it becomes a real headache for the laboratory and the doctor, as they must decide whether to change the frame or progressive lens style. Either way, it spells trouble that can result in lost business and a lot of aggravation for everyone… no one likes having to go back to the patient and tell them that they can’t have what they want. Younger now offers a better solution.”
-David Rips, President and CEO of Younger Optics
Image Wrap Features:
- Available in +8 BC for “Wrap Frames”
- Decentered 7mm to allow for maximum cut-out opportunity
- An effective blank size of 83mm
- No secondary calculations necessary for use
- The ability to match premium Image® NuPolar® Poly technology with today’s premium sunglass frames
- No need to compromise technology and performance on Rx sunglasses due to cut-out issues
- With one of the widest distance zones in the industry, the IMAGE progressive design is ideal for sunwear
Popularity: 48% [?]
Posted at 8:14 pm | Comment (0)
1st February, 2008
Transitions VI Now Available
Transitions VI is now available and in stock at Laramy-K Optical for all product with the exeption of the Natural, Adaptor, and Accolade in plastic and polycarbonate. No release date yet for these lenses. See what’s new and different about Transitions VI here.
Popularity: 49% [?]
Posted at 8:53 pm | Comments (2)
30th January, 2008
MS Small Business Summit 2008
Microsoft hosts an online small business summit each year that has gotten rave reviews in the past. The summit consists of four days of live broadcasts from sought-after speakers on topics important to small business owners. Registration is free and allows you to download sessions even if you are unable to attend the live event from March 24-27. This year’s summit covers topics in sales and marketing, productivity, financial management, and small business startups.
Microsoft Small Business Summit 2008
Popularity: 47% [?]
Posted at 10:13 am | Comment (0)
29th January, 2008
Get The Respect You Deserve
Ad campaign from Oogmerk Opticians of Belgium via AdHunt
Popularity: 45% [?]
Posted at 12:55 am | Comment (0)
27th January, 2008
Sales and Marketing are not the Enemies!
Too many optical professionals hold sales and marketing in contempt, partly because so many sales and marketing professionals employ questionable tactics and engage in deceit. But, for some reason, many believe the acts of selling and marketing are beneath them and that their occupations are somehow nobler without them.
I say B.S!
Sales and marketing are not solely the domains lower life forms. Selling is about getting the right products and services in the hands of the people that want and need them. Marketing is about telling people who you are and why they should come to you for their needs.
Great marketers and great sales people have a passion for what they do and truly care about their customers. They do not stoop to questionable practices to be successful or effective. Their success comes from providing value, building relationships, and establishing trust.
Instead of looking down upon sales and marketing, embrace them, become better at them. As a result, you will build more relationships, help more people, and experience more success in your business and your life.
Popularity: 41% [?]
Posted at 6:57 pm | Comment (0)
25th January, 2008
Marketing with Business Cards
Placing business cards on bulletin boards around the community is a popular way for local businesses to market themselves. However, as soon as someone takes your card off the board, your advertising is gone. The folks at Card Cues have come up with a handy solution that holds over 40 business cards on a bulletin board and allows passers by and interested prospects to take a card with them.
Card Cues via Duct Tape Marketing
Popularity: 42% [?]
Posted at 9:53 pm | Comment (0)
22nd January, 2008
DriveWear Available in Flat Top 28
DriveWear from Younger Optics is now available in flat top 28. DriveWear, powered by Transitions and NuPolar is the first and only photochromic lens to darken behind the windshield of a car. With three active states, DriveWear is ideal for driving or any outdoor activity where varying light conditions from overcast to full sun, may be encountered.
Popularity: 43% [?]
Posted at 6:00 pm | Comment (0)
11th January, 2008
Service with a Smile
Ben McConnell at Church of the Customer points out a fine example of how HomeMade Pizza, a Chicago pizzeria, builds a customer experience though simple expressions of appreciation and interest in feedback; the kind of customer experience people talk about.
You can probably find countless examples of businesses treating their customers with this kind of respect and appreciation; however, I’ll bet you’d be hard-pressed to find many doctors treating their patients with similar regard.
Popularity: 41% [?]
Posted at 11:17 am | Comment (1)
10th January, 2008
Essilor Acquires Interstate Optical Laboratory
Essilor starts off the year the purchase of yet another major independent optical lab, Interstate Optical. With locations in Ohio and Indiana, Interstate Optical employs 210 people and has annual sales of $26 M.
Popularity: 42% [?]
Posted at 12:51 pm | Comment (0)
21st December, 2007
Transitions VI Performance Improvements Released
Transitions has released technical notes on Transitions VI revealing the performance enhancements Transitions VI will bring to the market. Probably the most significant enhancement comes in fade time; a 30% improvement or 4 minutes quicker than Transitions NG.
Transitions VI is clearer and darker.
Transitions VI activates faster.
Transitions VI darkens better in hotter temperatures.
Transitions VI will be phased-in by some manufacturers beginning January 15, 2008. All Transitions product *should* be changed over to Transitions VI by February 1, 2008. The change to Transitions VI affects all materials.
Popularity: 71% [?]
Posted at 11:18 pm | Comment (1)
10th December, 2007
Screwless Magnetic Eyewear
After years of working with frustratingly tiny screws, punctured fingertips, and countless unnecessary adjustments, the folks at ZWare have come up with a better way; eyewear with magnetic hinges and nose pieces. Interesting concept and some nice designs.
Popularity: 48% [?]
Posted at 10:36 pm | Comments (2)
7th December, 2007
Gobble Gobble
Essilor continues to gobble up labs. In addition to the previously reported acquisition of North Carolina labs; Premier Optics and Gold Optical, Essilor’s official announcement also reveals the acquisition of GK Optical laboratories of Ft. Wayne and Greenwood, Indiana, as well as UK independents; Sinclair Optical Services and United Optical.
Popularity: 49% [?]
Posted at 10:24 am | Comment (1)
4th December, 2007
10 Places to Get a Free Business Education
Since you are reading this blog, my powers of deductive reasoning tell me you are both interested in business and a self-learner, like me. If so, here is an amazing resource for you. Deborah at Bizinformer points out 10 Places to Get a Free Business Education Online. Resources include courses from MIT, the SBA and BusinessWeek. Check it out.
Popularity: 46% [?]
Posted at 3:30 pm | Comment (1)
1st December, 2007
Marketing Your Optical on YouTube
YouTube can be a fun and effective way to market your optical business, particularly if you are targeting a younger demographic (although the YouTube demographic is getting older every day). Even if your production does not become the next viral sensation, embeded video hosted on YouTube can add an extra dimension to your website or blog.
Producing Your Video
Here are a few tips to consider when you get ready to produce your next YouTube blockbuster:
1. Use a tripod (the folks who shot the above did not)!
2. Make it informative; provide value to folks you are targeting.
3. Make it simple.
4. Make it entertaining.
5. Use humor.
6. Include the unexpected.
7. Make sure you display your business name and URL at the end of the video.
8. Don’t expect to become the next Numa Numa Boy or Star Wars Kid.
9. Be creative, experiment, and have fun!
Marketing Your Video
Simply shooting a video and puting it YouTube, no matter how catchy, entertaining, or clever it may be, will not get attention. Your video will be lost among the millions of other videos hosted on YouTube, never to be seen or heard from again. So, here are some suggestions on getting the word out about your new video:
1. Embed the video on your website or blog.
2. Email the link for the video to all your friends, family, and customers (being careful not to spam, of course).
3. Get people like me to link to your video.
4. Post your video on forums.
5. Ask the blogs and websites your customers are likely to read to link to your video.
6. Cross you fingers and hope that everyone who sees your video will like it enough to tell all their friends.
7. Learn from the experience and do it better next time.
Popularity: 46% [?]
Posted at 2:38 pm | Comment (0)
28th November, 2007
ECP Mag Misses the Point
ECP Magazine has published in this month’s issue a blog entry I made awhile back regarding my argument for use of the word customer over patient in optical. Paul King, an optician and column writer for ECP thinks I missed the key point which is ”caring“, when caring was the impetus my entire argument; caring not only for the health care needs of the patient but also for the needs of the customer.
Caring for the customer’s need to be informed.
Caring for the customer’s need to feel like she has been part of the process.
Caring for the customer’s need to be treated with respect.
Caring for the customer’s desire to enjoy the experience (whenever practical).
These are the ways in which customers are often treated and not often how patients are treated.
In most cases, the health care practitioner’s role stops at meeting the needs of the patient and does not include meeting the needs of the customer. This is why I advocate the abandonment of the word patient in favor of the word customer.
King would eliminate the word customer, because it implies “business” which is somehow bad for business? The business of health care is not what is wrong with health care. In fact, it is sadly what is missing from health care. Health care practitioners no longer compete in a free market. Health care choices have been taken from the hands of the patients and placed in the hands of government and third-party payers. Unfortunately, this also the direction optical is heading.
The patient mind set encourages people to abrogate responsibility for payment and treatment decisions to third-party payers and government programs. The third-party payers and government programs then in turn propagate the patient mind set; a feedback loop that continually takes more responsibility from the health care consumer and increases dependency upon bureaucracy.
Great for the insurance companies and bureaucracies.
Bad for the industry and the health care consumer.
If health care consumers thought of themselves as customers instead of patients, they wouldn’t take it lying down.
Optical folks need to stop looking to the health care industry as a model for running their businesses and treating their customers, if they wish to succeed in the long run.
Paul King likes to sign off with the message, “Remember folks, take care of your patients and send the customers to the other guys!”
I’ll sign off with a message from your customers, “Treat me like a patient (as if I were incapable or unwilling to be informed and make decisions and have no right to enjoy my experience in your office) and I, your customer, will gladly go see the other guys!”
Popularity: 49% [?]
Posted at 2:12 pm | Comment (1)
28th November, 2007
Attract New Customers by New Year
For many small businesses, including most in the optical industry, the purpose of a website is not to sell, but rather to provide additional avenues whereby customers can find your business. The internet is becoming an increasingly important medium in which to make yourself visible as more and more people abandon their phone books for internet search. Need a list of local ODs? Search the internet. Need to find the phone number of your optician? Google it.
The first step in making it easy for customers to find your business online is, of course, to have a website. As silly as it may seem, many eye care providers today still do not have a web presence. These ECPs are cheating themselves out of business as well as denying their customers a modern convenience. While the reported statistics may vary, it is clear the majority of consumer purchases today are influenced by some form of online content.
If you are one of those ECPs without a website, it may be easier than you think to have a professional looking website that actually grows your business. I am not talking about the template sites popular with so many ECPs that look as if they were built last century. No, I am talking about blogs. Blogs are a fantastic way to put up an effective, professional looking website with minimal effort and potentially no cost. More importantly, you can do it now, while business is traditionally slow and bring in new customers by the first of the year. So, what are you waiting for?
Even if you already have a web presence, it means nothing if people can’t find your site. It’s like the old saying, “if a website is built on the internet and nobody finds it does it really exist?” So, the next step after building your site is to ensure your site can be found easily and often. This is accomplished through search engine optimization (SEO); positioning your site to rank high in search results for search terms that matter and search engine marketing (SEM); pay-per-click advertising that will attract people to your website who are already looking for your services. I will discuss both in detail in future posts.
In the meantime, get crackin’ on that blog.
Popularity: 43% [?]
Posted at 12:26 am | Comment (0)
27th November, 2007
Essilor Acquires Two More Independent Labs
Essilor continues to reduce the number of independent labs remaining in the U.S. According to Optical Services International, an organization of independent labs, Essilor has most recently acquired two OSI member labs: Gold Optical in Fayetteville, NC and Premier Optical in Belmont, NC.
Popularity: 44% [?]
Posted at 8:24 pm | Comment (0)
17th November, 2007
Blog Comments Hiccup
I apologize for the delay on getting some of your comments posted to the site. Spam has been an issue (isn’t it always) so I am requiring moderation on comments. Unfortunately, I stopped getting email notification awhile back and didn’t realize it. Anyway, all of your comments should be up now. I’ll get this blogging figured out one of these days. Thanks to everyone for posting and please keep the comments coming!
Update:
Turns out the hiccup had nothing to do with the blog. The mail process died on the web server, so no emails were being sent from the web server, including order confirmations… and no one complained!? Anyway, the issue will be resolved tonight and all the queued order confirmations and other emails will be sent. Everything should then be back to normal.
Popularity: 51% [?]
Posted at 11:54 pm | Comment (1)
17th November, 2007
2007 OLA Awards of Excellence Winners
The Optical Laboratories Association (OLA) announced the winners for its 2007 “Awards of Excellence” at a banquet in Indianapolis, Friday. The recipients announced were:
Best in Dress Frames
Tuscany Eyewear - Mount Eyewear Pure Titanium TQ
Best in Safety Frames
Titmus - SW06
Best in Specialty Frames
Zyloware - Stetson XL-6
Best in Children’s Frames
Nouveau Eyewear - Nickelodeon Sponge Bob Square Pants Nautical Toon
Best in Sufacing Equipment
Gerber Coburn - DTL Generator Series
Best in Surfacing Materials and Tools
DVI - Combobulator
Best in Finishing Equipment
Satisloh - ES-3
Best in Finishing Materials and Tools
DAC Vision - HydroEdge
Best in Lens Treatment Equipment
Satisloh - G4
Best in Accessory Products
Hilco - Sun Pod Sunclip System
Best in Marketing
Younger Optics - Art and Science of DriveWear Activated by Transitions Education Tour and Marketing Materials
Best in Lens Treatments
HOYA - Super HiVision
Best in Lens Design
Carl Zeiss Vision - GT2
Best in Exhibitors
Satis-Loh
Best in Lens Materials
Younger Optics - DriveWear Activated by Transitions
Here is the complete list of 2007 nominees.
I will try to have some more pictures of the event posted by the end of the weekend.
Popularity: 57% [?]
Posted at 11:15 pm | Comment (0)
